"Foul-Ups and Has-Beens"

Hats off to Mick Herron. Love reading about authors who struggled through years of negligible sales but kept writing and hit it big later in their career.

“In 2013, Mick Herron’s rickety literary career looked to be falling apart. None of his novels had sold more than a few hundred copies, and “Slow Horses,” the first book in his acidly funny series about a band of misfits in the British intelligence services, had performed so badly that its sequel, “Dead Lions,” could not find a British publisher. “Ineptitude has always been a big part of my career,” Herron, who will turn 60 in January, said recently. Not anymore. Thanks to a series of fortunate events, and to the irresistible allure of the failures and has-beens who populate his books, Herron has become a literary superstar, with total sales surpassing three million copies.” -The New York Times